Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951) Regulations Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Cargoes) Regulations, 2004 Part 1 : Introductory 3. Interpretation

 

 

"Administration"

in relation to—

 

"appropriate cargo information"

means information relevant to the cargo and its stowage and securing, and specifying, in particular, the precautions necessary for the safe carriage of that cargo by sea;

 

"bulk cargo"

means cargo carried in bulk;

 

"cargo"

means any cargo, except liquids in bulk and gases in bulk, that may require special precautions owing to its particular hazard to ships or persons on board;

 

"Cargo Securing Manual"

in relation to a ship, means a manual that—

 

"cargo ship"

means any ship other than a passenger ship, fishing vessel or pleasure vessel;

 

"cargo space"

means any hold, tank or space in a ship appropriated for the carriage of cargo;

 

"cargo unit"

means a vehicle, container, flat, pallet, portable tank, packaged unit, or any other cargo, and loading equipment, or any part thereof, that belongs to a  ship and is not fixed to it, and includes wheeled cargo and any cargo transport unit;

 

"cargoes that may liquefy"

means cargoes that are subject to moisture migration and subsequent liquefaction if shipped with a moisture content in excess of the transportable moisture limit;

 

"container"

means a container as defined in Article II of the Safe Containers Convention;

 

"contravene"

in relation to a provision of these regulations, includes failing or refusing to comply with that provision;

 

"Convention State"

means any State, other than the Republic, that is a party to the Safety Convention;

 

"fishing vessel"

means any fishing, sealing or whaling boat;

 

"flow moisture point"

means the percentage moisture content (wet weight basis) at which a flow state develops under the methods of test in a representative sample of the material as prescribed by the Code of Safe Practice for Solid Bulk Cargoes (BC Code), published by IMO, as may be amended from time to time;

 

"flow state"

means the condition when a mass of granular material is saturated with liquid to an extent that under prevailing external forces such as vibration, impaction or ship's motion, it loses its internal shear strength and behaves as a liquid;

 

"forwarder"

means a person who receives the appropriate cargo information in preparation for eventual delivery of the cargo to the ship or its agent, and may include a cargo packer or consolidator;

 

"grain"

has the same meaning as in section 236(5) of the Act;

 

"IMDG Code"

means the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code adopted by IMO Maritime Safety Committee Resolution MSC.122(75), as may be amended from time to time;

 

"IMO"

means the International Maritime Organization;

 

"in bulk"

except in relation to roll-on roll-off cargo spaces, means directly and without intermediate form of containment in a cargo space forming a structural part of, or permanently attached to, a ship;

 

"International Grain Code"

means the International Code for the Safe Carriage of Grain in Bulk adopted by IMO Maritime Safety Committee Resolution MSC.23(59), as may be amended from time to time;

 

"moisture content"

means the amount of moisture present in a particular sample expressed as a percentage by weight of the total wet weight of the sample;

 

"owner"

in relation to a ship that is operated by a person other than its owner (whether on behalf of the owner or some other person, or on the person's own  behalf), includes the person so operating the ship;

 

"pleasure vessel"

means a vessel that is used solely for sport or recreation;

 

"roll-on roll-off cargo spaces"

means spaces not normally subdivided in any way and extending to either a substantial length or the entire length of the ship in which the goods (packaged or in bulk, in or on rail or road cars, vehicles (including road or rail tankers), trailers, containers, pallets, demountable tanks or in or on similar stowage units or other receptacles) can be loaded and unloaded normally in a horizontal direction;

 

"Safe Containers Convention"

means the International Convention for Safe Containers done at Geneva on 2 December 1972, as may be amended from time to time;

 

"shipper"

means any person who, whether as principal or as agent for another, consigns goods for carriage by sea;

 

"South African ship"

includes an unregistered ship having South African nationality;

 

"terminal"

means any terminal, jetty, pier, floating structure or other works within a port at which ships can obtain shelter or ship and unship goods or passengers;

 

"the Act"

means the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951);

 

"transportable moisture limit"

means 9/10 of the flow moisture point;

 

"trimmed"

means any levelling of the material within a cargo space, either partial or total, by means of loading spouts or chutes, portable machinery, equipment or manual labour.